What is Star Citizen?

Star Citizen is many things, some of which are different to different people. The game itself is the brainchild of veteran game developer Chris Roberts, who is most widely known for his Wing Commander game series and the movie. Under the banner of Cloud Imperium Games, he’s now developing his dream space sim and first person universe, Star Citizen. The development costs are being covered using a crowdfunding model and to date, Star Citizen has raised a record breaking 115 million dollars and counting. What is so compelling about the planned content for Star Citizen that people are willing to crowdfund it to such an unprecedented amount?

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Star Citizen – Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game

Let’s begin with a quote from the official game site for star Citizen, RobertsSpaceIndustries.com…

More than a space combat sim, more than a first person shooter and more than an MMO: Star Citizen is the First Person Universe that will allow for unlimited game-play.

Based on that blurb you come away with an understanding that Star Citizen has a massively multiplayer persistent universe that contains space combat, first person shooter combat and open-ended game play mechanics, where the player decides what role to assume and how they will interact with others and world around them. The latter is often referred to as sandbox. However, in addition to the “make your own fun” of a sandbox game, there will also be a robust questing system, trade professions and a dynamic and responsive in-game economy. That alone is a whole lot of game! But there’s more.

Because that’s not enough to wrap your mind around, Star Citizen is also incorporating never before seen game mechanics such as multi-crew ships, a completely seamless universe from deep space down to planet side landing zones, high definition streaming tech of procedurally generated planets and space combat using Newtonian physics. If I had to put Star Citizen into the narrow context of other games you may know it’s like combining bits of EVE Online + Destiny + basic MMO tropes. Okay, hold on to all that, cuz that’s Star Citizen and only one of the games being developed.

Squadron 42 – Single Player Role Playing Game

In parallel, Cloud Imperium games is also building Squadron 42 using the same funding and resource pool. At its core, Squadron 42 is a triple A RPG campaign that takes place in the same universe and lore as Star Citizen. It’s a hero’s journey look at the world where the storyline is all about YOU – your decisions and actions, and this version of YOU, has an impact on your character in the Star Citizen persistent universe. Think single player campaign of Halo with top casting talent such as Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman and Gillian Anderson, using next-gen animation technology. Squadron 42 is being designed as episodic journey, where the first set of episodes is scheduled to release in 2016.

Two Games – Three Ways to Buy

These two games combined – Star Citizen and Squadron 42 are what Could Imperium Games is working to develop and deliver, using their record-breaking crowd funding campaign that began in 2012. So when someone speaks of Star Citizen, oftentimes they are lumping both games into that conversation. However, for accuracy’s sake Star Citizen is just the MMO and you can purchase a game package for just those features here. Squadron 42 is the RPG and is also available for purchase separately here. Or you can purchase a combination package that include Star Citizen and Squadron 42 at a discounted price with the Aurora MRor the Mustang Alpha.